Kim Kyung-wook has disappeared, is disappearing, or will disappear
Fake Birthday Party Sim Yoon-kyung
Hitchhiking Jeon Seong-tae
Jeong I-hyeon once again
Their landscape

A new anthology novel collection on the theme of [Anda]

A new anthology novel collection, "Anda," written by five novelists on a single topic, has been published by Open Books.
[Hada Anthology] is a collection of short stories written by 25 novelists, themed around the verb [hada] and covering five actions we do on a daily basis: walking, asking, seeing, listening, and knowing.
The fifth anthology and the final installment in the series, "Anda," features the pillars and great writers of Korean literature: Kim Kyung-wook, Shim Yun-kyung, Jeon Seong-tae, Jeong I-hyeon, and Jo Kyung-ran.
[The Evolving Novel Machine] Kim Kyung-wook, who has been consistently producing for over 30 years, goes back and forth between the present and past of a youngest son who stops making fermented soybean paste stew and goes out to buy tofu to find traces of his mother who never returns.
"Disappeared, Disappearing, or Will Disappear" intimately unfolds the past of my mother, unknown to me, while also bringing to mind the unfamiliar embrace that embraced me as a child.
Shim Yoon-kyung, who always captures our hearts with new and powerful stories, delicately follows the [fake birthday party] and day of Lee Yeon-kyung, an executive director who has been working hard for 21 years at a semiconductor post-processing company, and calmly tells us what we must live with.


In "Hitchhiking," Jeon Seong-tae, a shining milestone in Korean literature and a writer who tells a rich story with beautiful prose, depicts the one-night stand between Seung-ho and Ji-young, three college best friends who betray their friends and become lovers.
The two of them get into a man's car that they meet by chance on the street and end up following him to his hometown, where they also meet the man's old love...
Meanwhile, Jeong I-hyeon, who depicts the loneliness and desires of people living in the same era with her uniquely delicate and sharp writing style, not only confirms the deep friendship between two friends who went on a trip to Jeju Island 20 years ago but also warmly embraces the lives of people in their 40s who are tired of social life through “Once Again.”


The final installment of "Anda," "They," is another masterpiece by Kyung-ran Cho, which is supported by both readers and critics as a "true expression of life in our time."
It carefully shows what it means to [hug] someone through the relationship between Yeong-seo, who works as a part-time lecturer but is still having trouble finding her place at school, her old acquaintance, senior Yoon, and the poet [Oh], who was once close but has grown distant from her.
And it is full of stories about [people who are more heartbroken by not being able to hug than by the moments they hugged and were hugged] and [people who want to hug].

Kim Kyung-wook, "Disappeared, Disappearing, or Will Disappear"

I started writing this after seeing the safety information text asking for help finding someone and imagining what kind of life that person might have lived.
I wrote this with the hope that they are not lost, but are finding their own lost path.

Shim Yoon-kyung, "Fake Birthday Party"

I think that all humans live wearing masks in society.
I wanted to stop for a moment, when warmth lingered even on a masked face, and when I wanted to lean into that warmth.

Jeon Seong-tae, "Hitchhiking"

Of the three young men in the novel, I was closer to Youngho.
The private entered a hut in a cornfield and read his lover's farewell letter.
I went back there again after I was discharged from the military.
I met a man like Jang on the road and went over the mountain to see his hometown.
This is the only work that transfers military experience to a novel.
Writing a novel not only preserves memories, but also erases or lets go of time.

Jeong I-hyeon, "Once Again"

Exactly 20 years ago, in 2005, I wrote a short story titled “Tomorrow, Tomorrow Again.”
The story is about two friends in their mid-20s who unexpectedly go on a trip to Jeju Island. Their trip is trivial and sloppy, with no plan.
You just try to do what everyone else does, but you quickly realize that there is no such journey or life in the world.
A long time has passed since then, and even though I've been going crazy, I've occasionally thought of the two characters in that novel.
I was curious about their well-being, as if I were old friends.
When I heard the topic [I know], I now felt like I wanted to meet them.
What will the two people who endured the chaotic daily lives of their youth in 2005 be like in 2025?


Kyung-ran Cho, "Them"

I thought about the verb [to know] for a long time.
I wanted to write a story about people I couldn't hug and people I wanted to hug, rather than the moments when I hugged and was hugged.
A short story that makes you think about such a person after reading it.